Thread that had external image link containing virus

[thebeave]

Just looking at the new posts and went to one that had a link to an external image hosting site. My virus software immediately identified an attempt to download a virus. The thread was:

ML with Student
arjaylieann17 (Today)

I've always disliked external image sites that try to open many pop-ups.

 

[Sakunyuusha]

A virus like the one rubiks is describing actually resulted in the destruction of my hard drive in 2005, leaving me without a personal computer for one and a half years before I could afford to buy another. So my heart goes out to him and to the OP. This can happen even to the most prepared: I had Norton 360 spyware and the virus still made it past the security protocols. (Norton issued a security update less than 48 hours after my computer was infected, but it was small consolation to me: the patch only offered protection against first-time infection. It did not help to remove it from infected systems.)

As for how a virus could destroy a hard drive and take away a man's computer ... well, read on ...
[hide]In my case, the virus was just as Rubiks described, but I was not able to remove it without reformatting my hard drive. Reformatting my hard drive, in turn, put too much strain on the drive and, one week later, it died. Gone. Kaput. This happened to be on a laptop whose case screws were all stripped, i.e. could not be unscrewed with a screwdriver, i.e. I was not able to dismantle the case without physically destroying it. And a laptop with no case is no laptop at all. In other words -- I'd just lost my one and only computer. And it'd be another year and a half before I could afford to buy a new one.[/hide]

 

[rubiks6]

I guess I can count myself as fortunate that I was able to regain control of my machine. I was seriously considering pressing the button to return the machine to factory settings, but I would have lost so much stuff , including a lot of really important business data.

There is a reason for that status bar at the bottom of the browser. I must diligently remember to look at the address before I click a link.

 

[lowleg26]

I agree wholeheartedly with OP's sentiment.

A ban on image hosts or, at the very least, restricting users to using only vetted image hosts is not a bad idea at all. The site already does this for file hosts, why not image hosts as well?

 

[elgringo14]

I don't see a problem to ban this hoster, since only three dudes (including two clone accounts) have been using it so far.

Though I haven't see any popup or virus when trying to go there. If you block all unnecessary scripts and popups, you can avoid 99% of the dangers.

 

[RyuKaze]

I can whole-heartedly sympathise with everyone who has lost important data (and especially Sakunyuusha - Losing an entire laptop to a virus is devastating.) I lost close to 100GB worth of data about a year ago (only 20GB was backed-up) simply because of a payload script on an image-site (which has thankfully been close since.)

I had Norton 360

I have never been a fan of Norton - It is resource intensive, cumbersome and I have seen it produce so many false-positives on several client PCs. The software itself does an ok job, but not for the price you pay for it in my opinion. If you are in the market for something new - Try BitDefender or Kaspersky.

If you block all unnecessary scripts and popups, you can avoid 99% of the dangers.

So true. I am sure everyone who is using Firefox knows about them; but for those who have not done so - It may be a good idea to install AdBlock Plus and NoScript.